Knoch girls basketball team wins section showdown with Highlands

By: Michael Love
Monday, January 10, 2022 | 9:56 PM

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The lead in Section 1-4A was on the line Monday as 3-0 Knoch and 3-0 Highlands did battle at Highlands High School.

The visiting Knights established themselves early and gradually were able to pull away for a 50-33 victory.

“We wanted to come out quickly and establish ourselves and make sure they didn’t get anything going,” said senior Madilyn Boyer, who continued a strong streak of games and finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds. “It was a total team effort at both ends.”

While Boyer ended in double figures for scoring and rebounds, junior guard Nina Shaw caught fire from several spots on the court.

Going up against the Golden Rams and her half-sister, sophomore guard Kalleigh Nerone, Shaw scored 19 of her game-high 26 points in the first half. She hit five 3-pointers over the first 16 minutes as Knoch went into the break ahead 33-18.

Knoch improved to 9-2 overall, and the win came on the heels of Saturday’s 53-33 victory over Deer Lakes. The Knights have won 17 of their past 18 section games dating to the second half of the 2019-20 season.

“We were a little lackluster in the first three quarters against Deer Lakes and then had a great fourth quarter,” Knoch coach Chris Andreassi said. “We really stepped it up defensively and played the way we were capable of playing. That absolutely carried over to (Monday) against Highlands. This was certainly a big game. There was nothing I had to say to get them fired up to play this game. We talked about energy. We had to play with a tremendous amount of energy, and we did that.”

Knoch’s biggest lead of the game came late in the third quarter when a Shaw bucket extended the advantage to 22 at 43-21.

Andreassi credited strong team defense also from the likes of Karlee Buterbaugh, Naturelle Ewing, CeCe Kosecki, Hattie McGraw and Mackenzie McGraw. The Knights forced 18 Highlands turnovers.

Knoch, which returns to action Tuesday with a nonsection game against Slippery Rock before hosting section foe Valley on Friday, was able to overcome 13 turnovers.

Highlands, which lost for only the second time in 10 games, got a team-best 14 points from sophomore Kate Myers. Of her total, 12 points came on four field goals from beyond the arc.

The Golden Knights were unable to protect the ball on each of their first three possessions of the game.

Knoch turned those giveaways into five points on a 3-pointer from Hattie McGraw and a rebound and layup from Boyer.

Sophomore Jocelyn Bielak answered with a jumper to get Highlands on the board, but soon after, Shaw went to work with her only two-point field goal of the first half.

The bucket gave Knoch a 7-2 advantage with 5 minutes, 56 seconds left in the opening frame.

Highlands turned the ball over nine times in the first quarter, and Knoch built a 15-5 lead.

“Until we are able to eliminate slow starts and are able to commit to defending for four quarters, we’re going to continue to struggle against good teams,” said Highlands coach Jason Kerr, who will lead his team into a section matchup Thursday at Freeport.

“We had six days to prepare for the game. We won the tip, turned it over and then gave up a wide-open three. Then they score again, and now we’re chasing the game in the first 30 seconds. Give Knoch credit. They came out with a lot of energy and played good defense, but we have to be more consistent with our overall play.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Highlands, Knoch